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PAY OF FEDERAL SOLDIERS CONFINED IN CONFEDERATE 

MILITARY PRISONS. 



Committee on War Claims, 
U!^- House of Representatives, 
Washington, D. C, Saturday, February 26, 1910. 
The committee met this day at 10.30 o'clock a. m., Hon. Charles B. 
Law (chairman) presiding. 

The Chairman. Gentlemen, among the bills pentling before this 
committee is the bill H. R. 2243, introduced by Mr. Taylor, of Ohio, 
to pay all federal soldiers honorably discharged $2 a day while con- 
fined in confederate military prisons thirty days or more. Mr. Taylor 
has expressed a desire to make a statement to us in behalf of his bill, 
and we have him with us here this morning. 
Mr. Taylor, you may proceed. 

STATEMENT OF HON. EDWARD L. TAYLOR, JR., A REPRESENTA- 
TIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF OHIO. 

Mr. Taylor. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, 
when I became a member of this body in the Fifty-ninth Congress 
I was requested by the Ohio Association of ex-Prisoners of War and 
numerous similar associations throughout the country to introduce 
a bill providing for a special compensation of $2 per day for each day's 
confinement of an honorably discharged Union soldier in the con- 
federate prisons, provided he had served thirty days or more. I 
introduced such a bill and presented my views on the same, both on 
the floor of the House and before the Committee on War Claims, to 
which the bill was referred. 

No action was had upon it, and I have again reintroduced a similar 
bill, which has again been referred to this committee; and it is for the 
purpose of informing you, and through you the House, as to the 
merits of this contention that I desire to take up a few minutes of 
the time of this committee. 

I know you do not care to have me discuss the sentimental features 
of the bill, but would prefer that I speak principally of the practical 
features, particularly as to what it wall cost, and therefore I have 
exhausted every effort to get figures that will give this committee 
and this House the information which you should have in connection 
with this bill. 

As I have said before, every association of ex-prisoners of war 
throughout the country is demanding the enactment of this law. 
From all parts of the country these broken-down soldiers are earnestly 
pleading that something be done in the way of recognition for the 
sufferings and extraordinary hardships which they endured. I con- 

30442—10 



2 PAY OF FEDERAL SOLDIERS IN CONFEDERATE PRISONS. 

sider it disgraceful that Congress has closed its e3'es and declined to 
recognize the just claims of these men who suffered hardships by 
imprisonment in confederate prisons and in nearh' every case emerged 
therefrom in broken spirits, and unable to cOpe with their more 
fortunate brothers in the future battles of civil life. We have never 
hesitated, and 1 am {)r()ud of this fact, to appropi'iate large sums of 
money for the purj)()se of giving ])ensions to the soldiers who fought 
in the Indian armies for periods of from ninety days to three years 
and more in length. 

I take it that nearly every one of the prisoners of war, if not all of 
them, are being carried on the pension rolls, but I believe, if an inves- 
tigation were made, that you would find that they are, as a class, 
receiving less pensions than their more fortunate brothers who, while 
sutTering the dangers and hardships of war, escaped tiie extraordinary 
horrors and })unishment of confinement in the prisons. 

The reason I make this statement is that there were no proper 
records kept in these prisons, and the man who was taken ill and 
suffered, whose system absorbed the germs of disease and disability, 
had no means of proving to the Pensioi Bureau that his subsequent 
condition, upon which he based his claim for pension, was due to 
service origin. Those who were in the field had the hospital records, 
the testimony of their comrades and officers, the silent witnesses of 
gunshot w^ounds, all of which went to give them prompt recognition 
by the Government, and in most cases adequate pensions for their 
disabilities. But these men, isolated from their comrades in arms, 
who contracted disabilities which have burdened their lives since the 
day of their release, have of necessity great difficulty in proving, and 
in most cases are absolutely unable to prove, that the disabilities 
from which they suffer were disabilities incurred in the line of duty. 
And in any event, the pensions paid these men by the United States 
Government in no way compensate them for the sufferings which they 
have endured since their discharge from prison, the physical and 
mental anguish while incarcerated, the loss of vigor and the suffering 
w^iich has been their lot for these many years. Only those who went 
through the ordeal of incarceration in a military prison know the 
horrors and sufferings endured and the indelible impress these suffer- 
ings have made upon those who were compelled to submit to them. 

The claim presented in this bill is not for a pension, but for a bounty 
or recognition of the extraordinary sufferings endured by a class of 
men who, in the performance of their duty, were captured and con- 
fined in confederate prisons. Their numbers are growing less every 
da}^, and the drain upon the Government will be small in comparison 
to what it owes them. By reason of the fact that it is not a pension, 
this bill has been referred to your Committee on War Claims, jproperly, 
I believe, and it is in their hands to report it to the lloor of the House 
for the consideration of that body. 

I propose to present these views to the members of this committee 
and can, if necessary, bring disease-racked witnesses from every part 
of the country whose appearance alone, without one word being 
spoken in their behalf, will justify my contention that their claim 
is a just one. 

Of course I reafize that we must look at the thing scientifically, 
and that the first question that will be asked me is, What will be the 
expense to the National Government should this bill become a law? 

r^lAR IS iQin ' - 



~ PAY OF FEDERAL SOLDIERS IN CONFEDERATE PRISONS. 6 

^ This is the practical side of the question, and for the moment I propose 
uj to lay aside sentiment and present to this committee such facts as I 
^ have at my disposal. 

In the first place, in answer to the question, What sum will be 
divested each year from the Treasury of the United States ? I can 
only say that there will be but one payment to each soldier. This 
is not a continuing claim on the Government, but will be settled, in 
so far as each individual is concerned, by the payment by the United 
States Government of the sum of $2 a day for each day that indi- 
vidual was confined in a confederate prison, provided he shall have 
been confined thirty days or more. A large number of these ex- 
prisoners of war were paroled within thirty days, and they .do not 
participate, and should not participate, in this bounty. 

It is very difficult for me to give exact figures. The reason for this 
is that the military records of the confederacy, and particularly of 
its prisons, were always unreliable and were entirely fragmentary. 
It is, in fact, a matter of considerable speculation as to the exact 
number of men who were confined in confederate prisons, and a 
more serious question as to how many emerged therefrom alive. I 
have exhausted every effort to get at figures that will give this House 
information, and I have obtained, I believe, enough reliable data 
to show approximately the number of men who emerged from con- 
federate, prisons, and, by a deduction of percentages, the number of 
those who still survive. 

On April 9, 1906, in response to inquiries instituted by myself, 
Gen. F. C. Ainsworth sent a letter to me, stating: 

According to the best information now obtainable, it appears that 211,411 Union 
soldiers were captured during the civil war, of which number 16,668 were paroled on 
the field, and that consequently 194,74:^ were held in captivity. It also apf>ears that 
30,218 Union soldiers died while in captivity; but the records of confederate prisons 
in the possession of the War Department are by no means complete, and the number 
of deaths of Union prisoners of war is doubtless much greater than the number herein 
stated. * * * The total number of deaths in confederate prisons will never be 
definitely known. 

I have examined the works of Frederick Pfeister, late a captain of 
the United States Army, and another work entitled "Prisoners of War 
and Military Prisons," by Asa B. Isham. These two statisticians do 
not give as large a number of prisoners as is estimated in General 
Ainsworth's letter. Captain Pfeister estimates that the missing and 
captured on the Union side total 184,791. In other words, 1 out of 
every 15 had been captured or reported missing. 

As an illustration of the discrepancy between figures and estimates 
of the number of Union men confined in the confederate prisons, 
Mr. Isham, in his work on Prisoners of War and ^lilitary Prisons, 
states that the captured white troops numbered 86 in every 1,000 
men. From these very reports it is safe to say that probably not 
more than 100,000 men lived through their prison experience and were 
returned to the Union Army. It is certainly safe to say that in the 
forty or more years which have elapsed, taking into consideration the 
condition of the men who emerged from the prisons, at least one-half 
of this number have died. 

Mr. Isham, in the work I have just referred to, after making allow- 
ance for the discrepancies between the records of the confederate 
military prisons and the actual facts, makes the following recapitu- 
lation: He shows that the number of men captured by the confeder- 



4 PAY OF FEDERAL SOLDIERS IN CONFEDERATE PRISONS. 

atcs amoiuitod to 188,145; the luinibor j)ai()lo(l, estimated at one- 
half, ainoimteil to 94,072; the lumiber actually confined in prisons, 
94,072; and the number of deaths in confederate prisons, 36,401. 
The })er cent of mortailty in coid'ederate prisons was 38.7 ))er cent. 

On the basis of these fi(2;ures, about 57,671 Union soldiers left the 
j)risons alive. As I have before stated, it is not extravao;ant to state 
that 50 pel- cent have died. Thus, on this liberal estimate, about 
28,000 men were alive in 1906, at the time I formerly presented these 
facts. By (igurin^^; up the percentage of pensioners of the civil war, 
we find that about 15 per cent a year have died since that time. 
])(Mhicting this 15 i)er cent, about 13,000 men have died since the 
former- figur(>s were given, leaving a])out 15,000 living to-daj, who 
might be eligible to the benefits of this act. But as the general 
])hysical condition of prisoners of war on either side of that great 
struggle, who served long terms in those prisons as a rule and came 
out more ])hysically weak and feel^le, was much worse than that of 
the average soldier, it is safe to say that a larger percentage of ])ris- 
oners of war have died than is shown in the general percentage of 
pensioners, namely, 15 per cent. In fact, it would be no exaggera- 
tion to claim a loss of 20 ]>er cent a year for prisoners of war, and 
this woukl leave in the neighborhood of 10,000 living men who would 
be eligible under this act. 

I have a letter from D. S. Wilder, of Columbus, Ohio, an ex-pris- 
oner of W!ir and president of the Ohio Association of Ex-Prisoners of 
War, who has given many years of his life to the urging of this claim 
and the study of conditions surrounding the surviving ex-prisoners, 
in which he states: 

1 have your favor of April 8. 1909, and in reply would t^ay that it is a hard matter 
to give you exact figures of how many ex-Union jirisoners of war there are living that 
would he benefited by your bill. We have in Ohio about 500 living that would 
come under your bill. We have more than this number living in Ohio, but they 
did not serve thirty days a prisoner of war. The estimate of all prisoners of war now 
living in the United States, that your bill would benefit, is about 10,000. 

Another thing that enters into the competition as to how much 
money would be required would be the average term of service of 
prisoners. By recent incjuiries I find that the average is not to 
exceed six months. While many served a longer time, a larger num- 
ber served a less time. Assuming that the veterans served in prison 
about six months each, or one hundretl and eighty days, the average 
payment to each prisoner of war would be about S360. Basing our 
estimate upon 10,000, this would make an expenditure of about 
$3,600,000. 

But it would not all come in one appropriation. Every man 
would have to prove up his claim, just as the pensioner does, and it 
would not require a lump a])])ro])iiation of all this money in one 
fiscal year, but it would be distributed through a series of years 
until all could be finally ])r()ved u}). As I say, inasnuich as these 
claims would all have to be proved up, it woidd not be necessary to 
ex])end this sum in one year. There can be no doubt that it would 
take longer than a year to adjust all of the claims ])resented. If it 
cost S5, 000, 000. that would not be an elaborate cxj)enditure. One 
battle ship costs more, and 10,000 heroic Union soldiers deserve as 
much recognition as any otluM- class of men in the United States 
to-dav. There can be no iloubt that the men who endureil the 



PAY OF FEDEEAL SOLDIERS IN CONFEDERATE PRISONS. 

agonies and sufferings of prison life, the tortures of confinement from 
their friends, their homes, and their comrades, at a time when 
sectionahsm and partisanship ran high," deserve this small recognition. 
Ours has been a generous Government. We are paying to men 
who served but three months, many of whom never saw real active 
service, pensions by reason of the fact that they offered themselves 
on the altar of patriotism. 

Now, I have already taken up more of your time than I anticipated; 
but when you come to think of it, there is a peculiar reason why these 
men should receive some consideration at the hands of this committee. 
They are not asking for a pension. They are asking for a special 
bounty or reward for the extraordinary hardships that they suffered — 
I do not care which army prison they were confined in — as com- 
pared with their brothers who were free, at least, to stand up and be 
shot at. 

Near the city of Columbus there is a site where 3,500 confederate 
soldiers were buried. That is the site of Camp Chase, Ohio, now 
right within our city limits. It was a humane prison, as prisons go, 
but nevertheless 3,500 young confederates died there, from wounds 
and disease. We made a beautiful national cemetery of it. 

I come here in behalf of the Union ex-prisoners of war to ask that 
w^e now recognize the supreme sacrifice of our prisoners of war. Let 
us apply the policy of liberality which has come to prevail in pension 
matters, and let us apply this principle before it is too late to benefit 
those who w^ould receive compensation under this bill. If the mat- 
ter rests in abeyance but a few years more there will be no necessity 
for any further legislation. These men have reached old age, and 
that, with their infirmities, will soon take them beyond the reach 
of legislation. 

I thank you, gentlemen, very much for your attention. 

The Chairman. This bill reads as follows: 

That any soldier in the service of the United States who was confined thirty days 
or more in any confederate military prison shall be paid the sum of two dollars for 
each day he was confined therein, provided said soldier is honorably discharged 
from the service of the United States. 

That does not make an appropriation for that purpose, of course? 

Mr. Taylor. Oh, no. This is just the authorization. 

The Chairman. What would be the status of things, supposing that 
bill was passed and these soldiers who had been confined in con- 
federate mihtary prisons proved up their claims? Would the ap- 
propriation 

Mr. Taylor. There is no question but that, until the Appropri- 
ations Committee furnished the money, the claims would have to 
wait for payment. The claimants would have to wait until the 
appropriation was made. It would be the same with this as with 
anything else. 

Mr. Clayton. This would be a recognition or expression of this 
committee; an expression of leo;islative opinion on the subject. Of 
course the act would not of itself take any money out of the Treasury. 
It would require an appropriation to do that. 

Mr. Taylor. It would no doubt go before the subcommittee on 
pensions of the Committee on Appropriations. 

Mr. Clayton. It would be the basis for an appropriation act. 

Mr. Taylor. It would be the authority. The Committee on Ap- 
propriations could not act until this authoritv was siven. 



6 PAY OF FEDERAL SOLDIERS IN CONFEDERATE PRISONS. 

The Chairman. It would be like an act of authorization for a river 
and harbor work? 

Mr. Taylor. Yes; and then it would be carried over year after 
year. 

Mr. Floyd. I would like to ask you a question, Mr. Taylor. Of 
course you waive the sentimental reasons, and you sui^gest that these 
men who were in these jirisons undoubtedly by reason of the greater 
hardships became more disabled and are so to-day than their fellow- 
soldiers who were not prisoners ? 

^ir. Taylor. Yes. That is a fact that I obtain from actual 
knowledge. 

Mr. Floyd. I do not doubt that statement, but is it not true, under 
the pension laws, that by reason of increased disability they receive an 
increase of pension on that account? 

Mr. Taylor. No, sir; exactly the contrary situation exists, and 
you will see why on a moment's reflection. A man who was in the 
field of battle or with his regiment in servi(!e had his hospital record. 
The records of his wounds, his illness, were taken care of by the field 
physicians and surgeons as they went along through the war; but the 
man who was separated from his regiment or who was sent to a con- 
federate military prison went there in almost all cases a well man arid 
w^as captiu'ed on the field because of superior force and was locked up 
in prison where hygienic and other conditions undermined and gradu- 
ally sapped his vitality, and he had no hospital record there and 
nobody to prove up his case, and when he was released and restored 
to freedom and assumetl a pensionable status he could not go to his 
captain or to his comrades and to his regimental surgeon and get 
proofs of his con'dition from them, and he could not go to the men 
who knew him and who knew he had gotten diseases of all kinds^ 
maybe scurvy, or typhoid, or any other of the fevers that came to 
them in those prisons, because those men were scattered back to their 
regiments, and many of them were dead. Accordingly, he did not 
have the proof available that other men in the service had. I think 
you can ju-ove that by asking Captain Davenport, the Commissioner 
of Pensions. 

I said in my opening remarks that I presumed that these ex- 
prisoners of war were all pensioners, but I do not think, considering 
their condition and disability, that they have received the same 
liberal degree of ])ension as the men who received their injuries. or 
illness as the direct result of army service, of whicli regular records 
were kept. That is the one reason why I am here before you asking for 
this extraordinary bounty. It is because they do not get quite 
what they are entitled to by reason of the peculiar condition that 
existed at the time, and therefore they should have and are entitled 
to some special recognition, because if they are not already receiving 
as large a pension as their more fortunate comrades, they should. 
But I think it is absolutely true that they do not get as much in pro- 
portion as the other men do. 

The Chairman. This bill, according to the regular procedure here, 
has been referred to our subcommittee No. 5, of which Mr. McLachlan, 
of California, is the chairman. Judge Plumlej^ is also a member of it. 
lie is here. Two niembersof that subcommittee are not present to-day. 
It might be well for you to take it up also with Mr. McLachlan. 

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